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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
Duplication Policy section for more information.

Harvey E. Beech was born in Kinston, N.C., in 1923. He was a lawyer, philanthropist,
and advocate of civil rights. While studying law in the early 1950s, Beech was asked
to join a case against the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1951, after
a lengthy court battle, Beech and four other students became the first African Americans
admitted to the UNC law school. He graduated in June 1952 and went on to practice
law for more than 35 years. Harvey Beech died in August 2005. The collection includes letters and an student notebook from an English class. The
notebook, with some pages dated 1939, includes a variety of coursework activities
and exercises. Letters include a few addressed to Harvey Beech, 1980-1981, expressing
gratitude for Beech's campaign support for President Jimmy Carter and North Carolina
Governor Jim Hunt; a few offering congratulations on Beech's being chosen as "Citizen of the Year" in Kinston-Lenoir County; a 2002 letter thanking Beech and his wife for their contributions
to the Free Press Newspaper in Education Literacy Program; and a 2004 letter thanking
them for contributions to Bennett College.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Harvey E. Beech Papers #5465-z, Southern Historical
Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Pamela Whaley in June 2010 (Acc. 101288).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

Harvey E. Beech was born in Kinston, N.C., in 1923. He was a lawyer, philanthropist,
and advocate of civil rights. While studying law in the early 1950s, Beech was asked
to join a case against the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1951, after
a lengthy court battle, Beech and four other students became the first African Americans
admitted to the UNC law school. He graduated in June 1952 and went on to practice
law for more than 35 years. Harvey Beech died in August 2005.

The collection includes letters and an student notebook from an English class. The
notebook, with some pages dated 1939, includes a variety of coursework activities
and exercises. Letters include a few addressed to Harvey Beech, 1980-1981, expressing
gratitude for Beech's campaign support for President Jimmy Carter and North Carolina
Governor Jim Hunt; a few offering congratulations on Beech's being chosen as "Citizen of the Year" in Kinston-Lenoir County; a 2002 letter thanking Beech and his wife for their contributions
to the Free Press Newspaper in Education Literacy Program; and a 2004 letter thanking
them for contributions to Bennett College.